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ABOUT US

Prava za sve (Rights for All) is a Bosnia and Herzegovina’s national nongovernmental human rights organization. Since 1996, Prava za sve has been promoting citizen’s participation in democratic institutions and processes through advocacy campaigns exposing human rights violations and discrimination cases demanding legislative and policy reforms as well as enabling civil society organizations to participate in decision-making processes. Prava za sve has grown out of the Global Rights an international NGO.

Prava za sve works to create just and democratic society based on human rights standards with particular focus on equal opportunities and participative democracy principles. Prava za sve demands government accountability to respect, protect and fulfill human rights of all persons; demands justice for survivors of human rights violations; promotes equality in rights for all persons or groups despite of their gender or sex, disability, religion or belief, minority status, sexual orientation or identity, or any other characteristics; supports capacity building and empowerment of excluded groups or communities.

Prava za sve operates by utilizing: activist and social researches; monitoring and reporting; developing advocacy documents and recommendations for changes in legislation, policies and practices; advocacy campaigns demanding legislative and policy reforms; developing civil society capacities and working on legal literacy of organizations and communities.

ORGANISATION'S HISTORY

Prava za sve is a Bosnia and Herzegovina-based nongovernmental human rights and advocacy organization. Prava za sve has grown out of the Global Rights Balkan’s Program. Global Rights, headquartered in Washington, DC, has been working as an international NGO with an office in Bosnia since 1996. After twelve years of successful operations in the Balkans, the Global Rights office closed and become a new independent national NGO, staffed primarily with the same staff who have been working in Global Rights since its establishment in Bosnia.

Since establishing a field office in Sarajevo in 1996, the Global Rights’ Balkans and BiH Program has worked to strengthen newly formed democratic institutions through effective NGO human rights advocacy at the state and local levels. The BiH program has been staffed entirely by Bosnian professionals and has a strong track record of success in educating policy-makers, training civil society groups, and informing the general public. Working on the ground with civil society groups in BiH as well as in the larger Balkans region, Global Rights has:

Held regional forums where participants focused on strategic opportunities that exist for legal service providers in the region to expand access to justice and the enforcement of legal judgments.

Trained lawyers to use the European Convention and the Dayton human rights mechanisms to press individual human rights cases before Bosnian courts;

Built capacity of Bosnian civil society groups on advocacy and legislative advocacy, followed up by concrete advocacy campaigns for adoption or implementation of national legislation and policies based on international human rights standards. These include the BiH Gender Equality Law, the Domestic Violence Law/s, and a draft of Anti-discrimination Law, among others;

Advanced human rights protections by building capacity of civil society groups on UN CEDAW Convention, UN CESCR as well as Council of Europe European Social Chart and application of those standards for protection of human rights at the national and international level;

Provided expert and technical support for the civil society organizations in developing and advocating on the Shadow Reports UN CEDAW Convention, UN CESCR as well as Council of Europe European Social Chart;

Coordinated work of 19 women’s human rights organizations and developed the first ever Shadow Report under the UN CEDAW Convention, followed-up by international advocacy on the Shadow Report recommendations before the UN CEDAW Committee on behalf of BiH NGOs;

Organized lawyers into the RING Anti-Trafficking Network, an NGO advocacy coalition that upholds the human rights of trafficked persons.

Advanced human rights protections by training Bosnian civil society organizations on EU Anti-Discrimination directives with special focus on vulnerable groups, by drafting and submitting Shadow Report on the status of LGBTI in BiH under the UN ICCPR; and

Developed manuals and written tools on international human rights standards, legislative advocacy, and other legal and policy documents related to Bosnian civil society human rights priorities.

Global Rights expanded into the Balkans region in 2005 through regional cooperation with leading civil society organizations in a project on “Promoting Democratic Practices in the Balkans by Facilitating Government Accountability, Citizen Participation and Anti-Discrimination”. The objective of this regional project was to improve democratic practices in the Balkan’s region by promoting legislative transparency and citizen engagement in government policymaking. Activities were centered on capacity building of local civil society groups as they advocate for the adoption and effective implementation of anti-discrimination laws and strategies that support EU Anti-Discrimination Directives.

The project aimed to transform political culture in the South East Europe region by promoting human rights, increasing citizen participation, and encouraging transparent democratic institutions and processes. Under this project a publication entitled “Action Guide for Legislative Advocacy” was produced, and covered a review of citizens and civil society participation in decision making process in Serbia, Croatia and BiH with civil society recommendations for advocacy action. An EU Anti-Discrimination standards manual, tools for litigation and advocacy actions, and guidelines for monitoring of legal implementation were also produced. Under this project Global Rights, with regional partners, launched anti-discrimination and human rights issues-based advocacy campaigns under same title “Active citizens for responsible government” in all three countries.

Affiliation with regional or international associations or organizations.

The Global Rights Bosnia-Herzegovina program has a long history of cooperation with the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Office of the High Representative in Bosnia. Training programs on the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights were conducted in cooperation with the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). Global Rights also collaborated with OSCE and the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions for training programs focusing on non-discrimination in labor rights. Following those activities Global Rights continued to collaborate with OSCE on domestication of international human rights mechanisms focused on economic and social rights; violence against women, gender equality, and minority rights. Through anti-trafficking initiatives, Global Rights collaborated with the International Organization for Migration and a rule of law initiative in Bosnia was coordinated with the European Commission and the UN. Global Rights has also closely collaborated with the National Democratic Institute in Bosnia in its work with members of parliaments and in organizing several parliamentary hearings bringing forward NGOs and Bosnian peoples’ priorities.

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